This blog is written by old gunslingers who have been out in the sun too long. It does not represent the views of any club or organization. Any offense to any person living or dead is unintentional.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Speed, Accuracy, and Wins

The Four Corner's Territorial is in the book, as usual it was a great event in a great location put on by great people. My only complaint is that I could not have had a tougher draw. In eleven matches, my opponent was faster than me, substantially, in ten of the eleven matches. The only opponent that was slower than me made it to the final five even though I defeated him on speed, both hitting 100%, and I being about 10 mls faster on average. He was shooting 415s and I 4 flat. The other ten opponents were low 3s, mid 3s and high 3s shooters.Speed: Speed was a partial factor in only three matches, I winning one and losing two. It was decisive only in one match with the fifth place finisher. Accuracy: In my seven wins I hit better than 80%. Most of those matches were over before the faster shooter found the target. Generally, I missed the first shot, then walked the hits to the light. In my four losses I hit 60%. In all four losses, I let the opponent get away. Had I hit 80% I would have won all four of those matches. That purveyor of videos got me twice on speed after we both had missed at 2-2. Because he is in our club and is faster than me, I probably let the adrenaline push the winning shot high off the target.I have never suggested slowing down to hit. Your quickest draw should be your most accurate. If it is not, then change your draw. What I do say is that you can and should learn accuracy at the same time that you learn speed.

"Quick don't mean much in a gunfight" Little Bill, Unforgiven.

It is informative to look at the three final championship matches. On average Quick Cal is at least 50 milliseconds slower than Parttime. Quick Cal won on accuracy. Miss Kitty is on average 30-40 mls slower than KK Kid. Miss Kitty won! Miss Kitty did win on speed in the championship match against Texas Rose. Tank is on average 100 mls slower than Trigger Happy. Tank won! Bonnie Ringo is 70 mls slower than Marshall Cooper but eliminated Marshall Cooper.

What is common to all three Champions is champion gunfighter nerves. Those that control the nerves and shoot under pressure best usually prevail. In three of my four losses, I know I let the adrenaline get the better of me because who I was shooting against. I really wanted to get Quick Cal and Old West, but got out of my proper mind set in those matches.Before the next state and territorial my goal is to be quicker than .390 at 80% accuracy or better. But of the two, 80% accuracy will get more wins than .390 speed.I placed 12th at the four corners territorial shooting generally between .395 and .415 in the matches decided by speed. Best match of the week was with my training partner with a winning shot of .391and other shots in the .39 s.

I have to give credit to loverboy's training tips for moving me down into the threes.

Old Gunslinger

Warning!

This blog has succumbed to the modern era and will no longer contain any references to any person, place, event or organization. Momentary lapse in political correctness may occur when the blogger can no longer resist poking fun at certain silliness in our lives. Bloggees should read only at their own risk!

Think About It!

It us not the critic who counts; not the man who points how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end triumph of high achievement; and and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.